💾 Archived View for gemini.ctrl-c.club › ~jules › gemlogs › 20241205.gmi captured on 2024-12-17 at 11:34:13. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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05 December 2024
I think I have an unhealthy relationship with my phone. I spend more time on it than I care to admit. Instead of reading a book, writing, or working on a tutorial, I keep finding myself wasting my time on YouTube, looking up the news, or doom scrolling social media.
I'm going to keep my smartphone. I like the idea of having an old flip phone, probably out of nostalgia, but it's not practical. The smartphone offers apps and tools that make life a lot easier. When on a trip, Google Maps has always allowed me to get to my destination on time, and without getting lost. I have banking, credit card, and utility apps that allow me to keep track of my accounts and payments. Also, even though YouTube's service has deteriorated considerably, it's still a good tool to learn how to do something.
I think, the best thing to do is to delete the apps that waste my time, and keep the apps that provide me some value. So, all my social media and game apps are gone. If I still want to engage in social media, I guess I can block off some time and access their service through my desktop.
I'm going to keep YouTube, but I'm neutering it. I'm disabling the watch history. I'm also unsubscribing to all my channels. This way, when I access YouTube, I'm less likely to start watching random videos and YouTube shorts. All I'll have left will be a mostly blank screen with a search bar.
I know this alone won't stop me from abusing my smartphone. I could always use the browser to access social media sites, and I could also reinstall any app I previously deleted. But, I'm going to be intentional with this. If I pick up my phone, I'm going to demand of myself a justification for using it. I hope this will be enough to keep me from mindlessly clicking on an app, to get a dopamine rush.
So, I'm going to give this a week, see what happens, and adjust from there.
~j
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